App Developers Use SMS To Drive Engagement And Revenues

GET IT and Blue LION case studies demonstrate use of SMS to increase loyalty

Munich, February 14, 2013 — Text messaging, long recognized as one of the most effective direct marketing channels, also has huge potential to help app developers market and distribute their products. This is the key takeaway of “COMMUNICATE, CONNECT & CURATE: 3 ways you can encourage mobile app re-engagement with SMS”, a new, free whitepaper from mobile interaction specialist tyntec (http://www.tyntec.com/) and Peggy Anne Salz, chief analyst at technology site Mobile Groove.

Drawing from app company case studies and interviews with mobile authorities, including Tomi Ahonen, an independent consultant included in the Forbes list of the Top 10 Power Influencers in Mobile, the white paper shows how developers use text messaging to attract new users and increase engagement with existing customers.

Engagement is critical for app developers that have chosen a freemium model to monetize their app. Their business — making money via in-app purchases — relies on how well they can keep customers coming back.

Qeep – using SMS to reactivate usersOne example of this is BLUE LION mobile, a German company that has developed Qeep, one of the world's largest mobile social discovery platforms with more than 16 million users in over 200 countries. BLUE LION uses text messaging to reach and retain high-value Qeep users. It has developed a detailed process to reactivate app users who haven't accessed their app for days or weeks in order to bring them back into the community.

According to Christian Schulte, co-founder of BLUE LION, these targeted campaigns achieve an impressive response rate of "slightly above 10 percent." In addition, the company uses text to power 'invite-a-friend' campaigns. These allow users to invite other users to try out the app and deliver even more value, generating a conversion rate of 50 percent, and an activation rate of another 10 percent.

"SMS is the only technology that’s truly harmonized between all mobile operators globally,” Schulte observes. "This reach means that an app developer with global scale can ensure consistency across markets, driving increased engagement and lower cost and complexity." Text messaging is also key because, unlike in-app notifications, developers can use SMS to reach people who don't have their app open on the device — or who have deleted the app altogether.

GET IT – SMS for app distributionGET IT Mobile provides a platform for delivering mobile apps from any marketing channel to any mobile device. The Silicon Valley based company uses text messaging to activate users and control the experience end-to-end.

GET IT’s technology enables a one-click or one-text call-to-action that makes it simple for users to download the apps they want. App developers use the platform to send a download link to the user's mobile phone, taking the friction and confusion out of the process.

"Telling your audience to find your app in an app store is like sending them into a warehouse piled high with competing products," notes Steve Gleitsmann, GET IT President. Using a mechanism like text ensures that people download your app when they get to the app store, not a similar app from your competitor."

Moreover, SMS is the way to reach app users when it matters most. "If you get someone in the heat of the moment, who sees your app advertisement and clicks on it, you want to get an app to that person's device the moment you have their attention. The fastest and safest way to do this is via SMS," Gleitsmann says.

The white paper highlights ways app developers use text messaging to enable and monetize conversations between community members, and ways to provide a valuable feedback channel for their users.

Based on research and interviews the white paper identifies three rules for app success:

Communicate — Reach out with what matters most, make your customers interested - and make it simple

Connect — Help your users share the apps they love with in-app invites

Curate — Take charge of your app and build a community

tyntec CEO Steve Liddell said: “Historically, app success was all about driving new downloads and business models were about app prices. Now, more than ever, the market is rapidly becoming dominated by freemium models. In this environment the focus is not just on grabbing consumers’ interest in the short term, but on keeping them engaged and re-engaging them when they look like they’re losing interest. As the examples in this paper demonstrate, SMS is a vital part of the mix for this sort of marketing outreach.”

"The endgame is all about engagement," Salz says. "Encourage it through your app, strengthen it with sharing and cement it with community. But don't stop with your users. You can also create, cultivate and nurture a business ecosystem that will recognize — and reward — all players for doing their part to re-engage your users — again and again."

About tyntectyntec is a mobile interaction specialist, enabling businesses to integrate mobile services for a wide range of uses – from mission-critical applications to internet services. We reduce the complexity involved in accessing the closed and complex telecoms world by providing a high quality, easy-to-integrate and global offering using universal services such as SMS, voice and numbers. Our products serve a broad range of business requirements are all backed up by an advanced and reliable infrastructure. Founded in 2002, and with more than 150 staff in five offices around the globe, tyntec works with 500+ businesses including mobile service providers, enterprises and internet companies. tyntec is a global mobile interaction service provider, offering high-quality mobile messaging and information services to mobile network operators, enterprises, mobile service providers and internet companies.

About Peggy Anne SalzPeggy Anne Salz is the chief analyst and founder of MobileGroove, a top 50 ranked influential technology site providing analysis and commentary on all things mobile with a special emphasis on mobile advertising, mobile search and social media. MobileGroove also produces and promotes custom research, strategic thought leadership and knowledge resources for the global mobile industry. Peggy has written hundreds of articles, dozens of white papers and several books, including the last four editions of the Netsize Guide, a mobile industry almanac, and The Everything Guide To Mobile Apps: A Practical Guide To Affordable Mobile App Development For Your Business (F+W Media Inc.), a practical resource add developers, brands and businesses due out in March 2013.